The Duffer Brothers may be the master storytellers behind the fictional tale of
Stranger Things, but they also admit to taking inspiration from real life conspiracies and true crime stories. While longtime fans of the show may already know about
the Montauk Project origins of the Hawkins Lab, some may not be aware that the tragically misplaced suspicion that Eddie Munson was under is also based on actual events in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993.
The West Memphis Three were three teenagers who were accused of murdering three eight-year-old boys in what was presented to the press as a Satanic sacrifice. Heavy metal music of the type Eddie Munson would have undoubtedly enjoyed was mistaken for “the devil’s music” by police investigators at the time. Despite a lack of evidence, West Memphis residents and the authorities were quick to accuse the metal-loving, long-haired teenagers who were viewed as outcasts by the rest of the Satanic panic-stricken community.
In March 1994, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr., and Jason Baldwin were found guilty of three counts of murder, although the police investigation and trials were widely criticized in the years following the decision. The case was the subject of the 1996 HBO documentary
Paradise Lost as well as 2012’s
West of Memphis, which was written and directed by Amy Berg and produced by Peter Jackson with Echols.
